You guys are great. Thank you so much for the responses on the last post. The last few days have been mildly better, in part because Meghan brought me chocolate, and I managed to get some acupuncture last night. My body is still broken, but hey, at least I’m not laying on the floor grumbling about it.

The great house purge continues over here, and last night we went through the girls toys again, and found another garbage bag of toys that we could cull out. Add that to all the books, kitchen stuff, clothes, craft stuff, electronics and furniture we are getting rid of, and we have the makings of a decent garage sale in the spring.

It’s astounding, and embarrassing, how much stuff we own. When I moved in with Tom, everything I owned fit in his car (except my mattress, which we do not even use now). He had some furniture, but not much, and for a few months before Ella was born, our little house felt almost empty. And yet, somehow, we are now drowning in 3000 sqft of stuff. A ton of it has been handed down from his parents – couches, beds, chairs, entertainment center, kitchen table, china cabinet, rugs, dishes – so it’s not as if we’ve been buying big ticket items, but truly, it’s not the couches that make our home feel so much smaller than it is. It is all the stuff. Stuff we wanted, stuff we found on sale, stuff we had plans for, stuff that seemed like a good idea at the time.

It’s overwhelming to think of how much work it will be to sort through it, and I am tempted to just box up the things that do matter, and then call it an estate sale and take a quarter or two for the rest.